Language as the most direct expression of culture provides us with a sense of identity. Language is the bedrock of man’s humanisation: communication has proved to be a vital means of survival for man. Besides, man’s endowment with reason as the capacity to think is related to a differentiated linguistic repertoire that allows him to reflect about life, to consider carefully what is good, bad, just, unjust and to voice these ideas for the benefit of society at large. The universal human linguistic capacity manifests itself in the differences between languages. The basic values uniting linguistic communities find expression in our common cultural heritage. Every language provides a rich and unique insight into different ways of thinking and living, it allows access to the history of cultures and people. From a linguistic perspective all languages are equal. It is the priority of our project to make pupils aware of the value of linguistic diversity as an asset for our society and to explore the wealth of our common cultural heritage to nurture an understanding for the need of intercultural dialogue to promote social cohesion. By investing in foreign language learning our project aims at fostering the development of social, intercultural and civic competences to combat discrimination and segregation, to promote social inclusion. Thus our project supports European educational policies. We will raise awareness of the social and educational value of our linguistic heritage by adopting a participatory and intercultural approach to our language tradition. We will enhance the quality and efficiency of language learning by developing innovative teaching and learning resources to promote literacy and assess pupils’ performance in progress. Entrepreneurial and transversal skills will be trained in communicative settings that require intercultural dialogue. Pupils will be responsible in the planning and undertaking of project activities. We will foster a positive attitude towards both, the intrinsic value of language proficiency and its practical value by providing ample opportunities to practice foreign language use in formal and informal learning scenarios. By referencing the language skills to frameworks (FREPA, CEFR), we will facilitate recognition and certification of skills and provide constructive feedback to pupils to develop their own language learning competence. The four participating schools are all characterized by their multilingual classes, i. e. their classrooms are linguistically and culturally heterogeneous. All schools have expertise with international exchanges and bilingual education. We are experienced with European intercultural project work (Comenius, Erasmus+, eTwinning). Activities: Crash courses in all the participants’ languages by/for pupils Multilingual dictionaries Workshop on theatre; writing of a play and theatre performance Development and testing of activities/resources for language Visit to a radio station and a newspaper Methodology: We will make learning contents available and accessible (e.g. literature, art, history, languages). Thus we are going to have a holistic and multichannelled approach to languages and cultural heritage and employ a blend of competence-oriented methodologies and teaching/learning strategies which might be summarised as follows: -project-based learning: pupils work on interdisciplinary, collaborative, technologically innnovative, task-based modules introduced by driving questions, set in real 21st c. contexts, to create public products in connection with other schools -reflective learning, i.e. society has changed and learners have to be ready to rapidly change, so we should be engaging pupils and let them achieve a deeper level of learning by reflecting on the way they learn -place-based learning, i.e. pupils will be engaged in exploration of their connections with local history, environment, culture -values-based learning, i.e. pupils are encouraged to take up active citizens' attitudes such as mutual respect, care, responsibility -gamification, i. e. we will apply game-related principles to our activities in the Twinspace and in presence to boost motivation and creativity (e.g.language games, theatre performance; digital quizzes) Outputs: e-magazine: poetry Calendar with proverbs Forum exchanges on the twinspace; Reading diary online newspaper Theatre production Teaching / learning materials to promote plurilingualism Language games Evaluation surveys Outcomes: Awareness of the need for language skills and life-long learning Deeper understanding of our European cultural heritage Enhanced language learning competence Ability to participate actively in intercultural contexts Exploitation: maximizing the potential of our funded activities so that our results will benefit more educational institutions Dissemination of project results on local / regional / national / international level Professionalization of teachers by developing OERs
Context: Language as the most direct expression of culture provides us with a sense of identity. Every language provides a rich and unique insight into different ways of thinking and living, it allows access to the history of cultures and people. It has been the priority of our project to make pupils aware of the value of linguistic diversity as an asset for our society and to explore the wealth of our common cultural heritage to nurture an understanding for the need of intercultural dialogue to promote social cohesion. Aims: Our project entitled “Tracing and shaping our linguistic cultural heritage for sustainable plurilingualism, intercultural dialogue and active citizenship“ (TSOLCH) has developed, refined and widened our pupils‘ language skills so that they have become articulate, plurilingual, active citizens eager to participate in society in their role as enlightened Europeans conscious of and united by their cultural heritage. TSOLCH has raised awareness of the rich diversity of our linguistic European heritage by TRACING our partners‘ literary/ non-literary tradition of language use as it manifests itself in written /oral traditions, social practices, rituals, festive events, in journalism. TSOLCH has encouraged the continuation of our shared linguistic treasure by SHAPING a multilingual European narrative. Pupils became dramatists, poets, prose writers and journalists who, inspired by their literary/non-literary European forebears, produced a variety of fictional/non-fictional texts, visualized prose, performed their understanding of culture in contemporary interpretations in terms of theatre plays and songs. TSOLCH has enabled pupils to develop their language skills in more than one foreign language. Pupils improved their writing and communicative skills in English considerably, they also acquired basic communicative strategies in the language of their project partners. TSOLCH has given priority to project-based learning integrating principles of entrepreneurial education. Pupils experienced ownership in their learning process since they became teachers of their mother tongue to their peers, designing learning apps and videos. TSOLCH has contributed to social inclusion by endowing pupils with a plurilingual and intercultural competence. TSOLCH has promoted literacy through innovative learning strategies, raising awareness in pupils of the benefits of life-long learning for international collaboration, their future employability, their personal growth. The extensive use of language for both, knowledge building and knowledge application has improved cognitive skills such as critical thinking, intellectual flexibility and sensitivity to verbal and non-verbal performance. TSOLCH has contributed to the development of a European identity by providing ample opportunities of collaboration, by engaging pupils in discussions about current European issues and by provoking a meta-cognitive reflection on being an EU citizen. Activities: C 1: Training session on the creation and integration of OERs Logo competition; Flyers about one’s culture; preparation of a theatre performance; EU anthem; profiles of famous dramatists; Portuguese crash course, European Code Week C 2: Theatre workshop culminating in a theatre performance; musical performance: EU anthem; multilingual dictionary SID, Profiles of national poets; poetry writing on the occasion of national days: Mother’s Day, Women’s Day; preparation of a digital calendar; German crash course, multi-lingual dictionary C3: Poetry writing workshops; Theatre workshop culminating in a public theatre performance at a theatre festival; creation of a digital calendar with proverbs; German crash course: gamification ebook with poetry results; dissemination ebook; profile of national writers; visual interpretations of a prose narrative; Italian crash course C4: Language transformation workshops: theatre performance, news report, song, photo report; Crafting elevator pitches; counter speech; Italian crash course: gamification Journalistic writing; Creation of an e-newspaper and an e-magazine, dissemination e-magazine Results: Outputs: Logo designs, flyers presenting one’s culture; e-magazine: poetry; e-magazine about climate change; dissemination e-magazines: TSOLCH I and II; Calendar with proverbs; multi-lingual dictionary; Forum exchanges; Reading diary; e-newspaper; Theatre performances; Teaching /learning materials to promote plurilingualism; Language games; Evaluation surveys Outcomes: Deeper understanding of our European cultural heritage; awareness of the need for language skills and life-long learning; enhanced language learning competence; ability to participate actively in intercultural contexts; exploitation: maximizing the potential of our funded activities so that our results will benefit more educational institutions; dissemination of project results on local/regional/national/international level; professionalization of teachers by sharing teaching expertise